Tusk Effect Propels Polish Ruling Party to Top of Polls

Polands ruling Civic Platform party retook the lead in opinion polls, with parliament speaker Ewa Kopacz set to replace Donald Tusk as prime minister following his departure to become European Union president.

Support for the ruling party jumped 10 percentage points from June to 34 percent, while the opposition Law & Justice Party lost 3 percentage points to 28 percent, according to a Sept. 4-5 poll by TNS Polska for the state television channel TVP 1. A separate survey conducted Sept. 5-6 by the IBRiS polling company showed the two parties tied at 30 percent after Civic Platform trailed by eight points in August, the Rzeczpospolita newspaper said today.

The ruling coalition is seeking a replacement for Polands longest-serving prime minister since the communism ended in 1989, to lead Civic Platform into next years general election. President Bronislaw Komorowski will discuss the creation of a new cabinet with Kopacz after he accepts Tusks resignation on Sept. 11, his spokeswoman said today.

The president sees the need to stabilize the government as quickly as possible, Joanna Trzaska-Wieczorek told reporters in Warsaw. Hes said it numerous times.

Komorowski has received assurances from Janusz Piechocinski that his Peasants Party, the junior partner in the ruling coalition, will support Kopacz, she said.

The ruling coalition will meet at 8 p.m. in Warsaw to discuss the future cabinet, Malgorzata Kidawa-Blonska, cabinet spokeswoman, said today. Infrastructure and Development Minister Elzbieta Bienkowska will also leave the government to become an EU commissioner.

Tusk has lead the Polish government since 2007, helping steer the economy to become the only one in the 28-nation EU to avoid recession. His popularity has suffered after leaked tapes of conversations between leading Polish policy makers rocked the nation this year, threatening to capsize the ruling coalition and unseat the central bank governor.

The bounce-back in polls has so far failed to translate into electoral successes for the Civic Platform. Law & Justice won three by-elections yesterday, keeping their seats in the upper house of parliament.

A lot of political analysts have been talking about the so-called Tusk effect because of the prime ministers appointment to a high position in the EU, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, head of the Law & Justice, said at a news conference. Poles see the reality and the reality is that Donald Tusk is leaving for Brussels and problems remain.

To contact the reporter on this story: Piotr Skolimowski in Warsaw at pskolimowski@bloomberg.net

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Tusk Effect Propels Polish Ruling Party to Top of Polls